JURY STATEMENT
"The jury would like to acknowledge and compliment this year’s selection of films which we feel has been very strong in regards to exploration of the possibilities of the medium. We believe that experimentation is central to the evolution of new ways of seeing and understanding - inclusive of the risk of not achieving conventional perfection. So many of the presented films had outstanding character or diversity of form and strategy, aligned with their subject matter."

"It is never an easy, and is even sometimes an inappropriate task, to isolate one film from the rest. This year was especially difficult since many films had comparable outstanding qualities, varied in nature, and worthy of regard in the spirit of documentary filmmaking."

Best Feature-Length Documentary Award MAIDAN (Ukraina/The Netherlands, 2014)
by Sergei Loznitsa Timely in this current passage of History, the filmmaker calmly and masterfully engages in the unfolding of a people’s unrest with a conflicted system.

BEST MID-LENGTH DOCUMENTARYMEMORIA OCULTA (Mexico, 2014)
by Eva VillaseñorA subjective attempt to revive a lost fragment of time. A research process, beginning with her exterior relations, then leading us into a unique imagistic inner reality – an intimate personal space.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT AWARD ESCORT
(The Netherlands, 2014)
by Guido HendrikxWitnessing the methods of handling human beings in a polite yet inhumane construction, the film deftly reveals the deep undercurrents of the evolving conditions of global migration and displacement.

GIAN PAOLO PAOLI AWARD to the BEST ETHNO-ANTHROPOLOGICAL FILM

YAAR (Belgium, 2014)
by Simon GillardA tactile, sensuous, poetic exploration of a peoples relationship to the ground on which they live, dangerously exploited, intoxicatingly mined, this film treads a fine but powerful line of ambiguity that provokes perception itself as an important component of ethno-anthropological filmmaking.

*SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY IN FLORENCE AWARD TO THE BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM

SUF AWARD TO THE BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM YAAR (Belgium, 2014)
by Simon GillardWithout a need for words, the mesmerizing visuals brilliantly capture the traditions, culture, labor, and craftsmanship in a community in Burkina Faso.

SPECIAL MENTIONESCORT (The Netherlands, 2014)
by Guido HendrikxFor bringing forward a new perspective on a sensitive and controversial issue, such as the deportation of immigrants in European countries, with a great sense of immediacy and urgency.